Mayokun Fadeyibi, SVP Autochek Group, defends the pan-African automotive market 

By Mérième Alaoui

Autochek has increasingly earned a name in the lucrative used car sales market. Its platform is designed to facilitate automotive e-commerce by allowing customers to obtain instant financing offers online or by visiting one of the network’s dealers directly. It also offers maintenance and after-sales services.

The startup, which was founded in Nigeria in 2020 before expanding to nine other countries, acquired the Cheki brand in Nigeria and Kenya shortly after its launch, and then in Uganda, as well as Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and South Africa. The company has since expanded through further acquisitions, including Kifal Auto in Morocco and AutoTager in Egypt. As a result, it now has a foothold in Africa’s second largest market.

« So we’ve really grown and expanded across the continent through acquisitions. Our financial services are headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, and we’ve developed the algorithms and decision systems to help our banking partners offer instant credit to their customers, » says Mayokun Fadeyibi, Autochek Group SVP.

So we’ve really grown and expanded across the continent through acquisitions

With a doctorate in philosophy from Bentley University and a master’s degree in applied mathematics from the University of North Carolina, Mayokun Fadeyibi has a strong pan-African vision. The needs of individual countries may be different, she says, but the vision is the same. « I think, at least from our perspective and our ecosystem, we see that the markets are very similar. They may be at different stages of development, but in terms of real commerce, in terms of customer needs, they are actually very similar. So, we’ve made sure that our product and our business is very localized by market to meet the needs of consumers in each market ». Besides digital links, the start-up is developing a lot of local work. It works with dealers in all the countries where it operates.

But its ambitions stretch further. By the end of 2021, the startup had already raised $13.1 million from various investors, but it wants to expand even further. And to successfully implement its internationalization strategy, starting in Africa.